Trainer Richard Mandella will have just his third starter at Belmont Park in the last 21 years on Saturday when he sends out Set Sail in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Given his success in races run from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, Silver State gives his connections multiple options. As of Sunday morning, Steve Asmussen, Silver State's trainer, was of the mindset of stretching him out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
The trainers of Essential Quality and Hot Rod Charlie were pleasantly surprised by how well their 3-year-olds looked Sunday morning after their knockdown, drag-out stretch battle in Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes won by Essential Quality.
Turf and dirt, Belmont Stakes Day turned out well for trainer Chad Brown. Three-year-old filly Search Results won the Grade 1 Acorn over one mile on dirt, while Brown ran one-two in the Grade 1 Manhattan as Domestic Spending assumed a clear position as North America’s best grass horse with a comfortable win over the Brown-trained pacesetter Tribhuvan.
Total betting on the Belmont Stakes on Saturday afternoon was $60.46 million, a 13.6 percent increase over handle the last time the race was held in its traditional place on the Triple Crown calendar in 2019, according to the New York Racing Association.
Trainer Doug O’Neill was probably a lot less surprised than most to see Hot Rod Charlie on the lead from the outset of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. In the paddock prior to the race, he and jockey Flavien Prat had discussed the possibility of sending “Charlie” to the front, in part to avoid the early trouble that arguably cost him the victory five weeks earlier in the Kentucky Derby.
A compromised start and wide trip sent Essential Quality to his first defeat in the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago, but he benefitted from a gorgeous trip and advantageous pace Saturday to re-establish his position as the best 3-year-old male in the land by taking the Belmont Stakes over a stubborn Hot Rod Charlie, who ran too good to lose the way the race unfolded.
Rebounding from the first loss of his career in the Derby, Essential Quality outfought a game pacesetting Hot Rod Charlie to win Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths before a crowd of 11,238 at sun-soaked Belmont Park. Hot Rod Charlie, who set a fast and contested pace, finished second, 11 1/4 lengths clear of Rombauer, the Preakness winner.
Results and payouts from the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes on June 5, 2021, at Belmont Park, won by Essential Quality.
By historical standards, the eight-runner field in the Belmont Stakes is already small. It’s even smaller considering three entrants are field-fillers with little more than a prayer.
